Runway to the Furnace

Like many forms of art, fashion is ever changing. Similar to how people’s favorite songs change within the span of weeks or months, people’s favorite clothing items change very often. Within the realm of streetwear, trends are very temporary and fleeting. Consequently, the clothing items or designs that everyone covets one day can become the ones that everyone despises the next. Furthermore, clothing manufacturers also have to release new designs and pieces to appease these changes. Whenever I browse through online retail stores, I notice that they crank out new items every few weeks. However, I have been curious as to what happens to the pieces that do not sell from previous rounds. I definitely have considered the possibility that they successfully sold out of their pieces, but I have questioned what happens if the opposite were true.

As it turns out, I have found out that many pieces of clothing that are not being sold or donated end up in the landfill. According to The Balance Small Business, which is a blog that discusses entrepreneurship, marketing, and retail, “More than 15 million tons of used textile waste is generated each year in the United States, and the amount has doubled over the last 20 years.” Although this statistic was personally disheartening, I was relieved to see how up-and-coming designers are combining their efforts to combat this problem. In a Forbes article called “Fashion’s Dirty Little Secret And How It’s Coming Clean,” de Castro, founder and creative director of Fashion Revolution, instructs us “to stop calling it waste and start seeing it for what it is – a resource.” I definitely agree that a large majority of the textile “waste” can be repurposed to make new pieces that are both sustainable and stylish. De Castro’s mindset of turning textile waste into a resource is something that the fashion industry should adopt and start practicing. I believe that converting “waste” into new clothes will not only help our planet but will also encourage creativity amongst fashion designers. Utilizing textile waste as fabrics to make clothes can also result in more handcrafted one-of-a-kind pieces in the market. 

In an article from Highsnobiety, a renowned fashion online platform, called “Special Report: Streetwear Has a Sustainability Problem,” one of their editors Morency cites a claim from Berliner, co-founder of a Danish streetwear line, saying, “Streetwear is about free speech, so it feels strange when brands don’t raise their voice for a better planet.” I agree that people should use streetwear to spread awareness about being more environmentally conscious and that it is ironic to see streetwear brands refuse to talk about these issues. But, I think that the author should have explained how a reason as to why these brands do not prioritize sustainability is due to money, since they are businesses at the end of the day. These brands would make a bigger profit quicker using entirely new fabrics rather than repurposing old ones to create their clothing items. Although fashion brands unfortunately prioritize profit over the environment, I believe that more streetwear brands, like Champion, Off-White, and Supreme, should be held accountable for their efforts towards sustainability. Because these brands practically dictate what is trendy and what is not these days, they should start using their voice to encourage people to be proactive in helping improve the environment.

Sustainability within fashion is a new issue we are tackling today, since people have only very recently been aware of the textile crisis within the fashion industry. This is a pertinent issue because everyone in society is a consumer of clothes to various degrees; therefore, we are all involved in the fashion industry in some way. Another reason as to why this is relevant is because of the rising amount of CO2 levels and landfill throughout our oceans that is hurting our planet today, leaving it desperate for us to take some degree of climate action. As we continue to buy clothes, we must be careful about increasing textile waste and supporting large businesses that neglect environmental mindfulness. Some ways in which we can buy clothes yet care for our planet is to shop at second-hand stores and independent, small brands. Outside of buying, we can also donate our unwanted clothes to thrift stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army in order for those pieces to be recycled and reused. Because we are all consumers of the fashion industry, fashion is an accessible means to help care for the planet.